The Vaporiser
by Galadriel1010
Summary: Inspired by a CSI: Miami episode, but not a crossover. A deadly weapon falls into the wrong hands and bringsmemories and internal conflict for Tosh


**Author's Note:** I was watching CSI last night, as I do pretty much every night, and the weapon seemed extremely familiar. I just had to write a story about it, but without wanting to drag the team out to Miami, it turned into a Tosh angst session. Hope you like it.

* * *

Tosh's eyes widened in shock as she read the report and her fingers flew over the keys, researching deeper into it. She printed off what she'd found and ran up to Jack's office, where the captain was going over a stack of internal reports with Ianto, "Jack, you've got to see this," she put her glasses on and read from the report, gesticulating wildly – a sign of her distress. Ianto pushed away from the desk, coming to stand behind her and read over her shoulder with a calming hand on the small of her back, "you need to get onto UNIT and Liberty Towers immediately. I got this report through on one of our filters, if they're any good they will have got it too, I've set it to search for any unusual reports from across the world, newspaper reports, police, emergency services..."

"Tosh?"

"Sorry, well, it's from Miami," she dropped the files on his desk and folded her arms. Ianto followed the files and leant over Jack's shoulder instead, "They've just had a case where three men were vaporised."

"Vaporised?" Jack asked with a frown

"Not completely, but blasted into fragments. It's..."

"Found the crime scene photos," even Jack paled, "that's... That's not a human weapon."

"No, it's called the Vaporiser or the BX-4, illegal in the USA. There were plans, but nothing ever came of it officially. But the plans had escaped from a Liberty Towers lock-up, shortly before the weapon itself escaped from UNIT," she looked Jack directly in the eye, "they caught the mole, he's in a UNIT secure facility, but the weapon had already left his hands. It won't be invented for two thousand years, on a planet three galaxies away."

"And now it's turned up in Miami."

"And three men are dead," she shook her head, "you need to get onto UNIT and Liberty Towers and make sure that they're aware of it, Horatio Caine's leading the investigation."

"I will do, thanks Tosh," he watched her go, then reached for the phone, opening a conference call with his American counterparts.

* * *

It was nearly two days later when Jack asked Tosh to stay behind for a moment after Gwen and Owen left and brought her a closed file. He sat on the sofa behind her desk and set the file on the coffee table, indicating for her to take it, "They found the weapon, UNIT have reclaimed it and secured it."

"Has it been destroyed?" she asked, putting her glasses on to read the report.

He sighed, "I tried, but they dug their heels in. It's being studied. Once they have all the information they can get from it, they've promised me they'll consider it."

She shook her head, "I can't believe they let it get this far. You should have left me there, Jack."

"No." He shook his head and looked up at her, "No, what I should have done is poach you before it got to that stage."

"You're not infallible."

"And neither are you," he pointed out with a smile, "neither are any of us." He paused to consider the grammar of that sentence, "The thing is, it's not just what we're born with, it's what we choose to bear. Having potential is irrelevant if you don't use it right. What you did was very different to what he did."

"How so, Jack? I gave a dangerous weapon into the hands of terrorists," she pointed out, willing him to persuade her, "I could have destroyed everything!"

He chuckled sadly, "We've all of us done stupid things in the name of love, I think I'm the only one who's done something stupid for the love of money. And I hope it will stay that way. You're all too good to become like me."

"Jack, you're a hero..."

"No, I'm an actor, Tosh. You're the heroes. You know, they're good over the pond, but not as good as you. Your report was the first one to come in. You stopped that gun reaching battlefields, Tosh." He smiled and stood up, squeezing her shoulder lightly, "Go home, Tosh. Go and sleep, have a glass of wine, read, play chess, play compute games, whatever it is that reminds you why you're here. Then come back in the morning and we'll save the world all over again."

"Okay, Jack. I'll just finish up here," she watched him head up to his office, where the dark shadow of Ianto greeted him, so close they had to be more than touching. She smiled, turned off her monitors and left.

* * *

Two years later, BX-4 was dismantled and the pieces scattered through UNIT and associated facilities throughout the world. The trigger mechanism was kept in Cardiff, in the empty drawer marked "Sato. T."


End file.
